Edinburgh v Borders

[An Tarbh]

Edinburgh and Borders get the first of the three local derbies underway this weekend when they meet at Murrayfield this Friday.

Simon Webster is out for Edinburgh following the ankle injury picked up in Scotland's drubbing at the hands of Australia. Most of Edinburgh's international contingent do return however, among them Southwell, Paterson, Di Rollo, Godman, Blair, Murray, Jackobson and Hall.

Meanwhile the Borders must do without Chris Cussiter after he was ruled out following the shoulder injury picked up in the win over the PIs. Simon Danielli returns following the international break and the front row is completely changed from the last game with the Scarlets.

Should be a comfortable home win with a bonus point to boot, Edinburgh will need it to keep in touch with the top sides, especially with Leinster taking on Ulster as well this weekend, so a chance to capitalise on that.

Edinburgh: 15 Hugo Southwell, 14 Chris Paterson ©, 13 Marcus Di Rollo, 12 Andrew Easson, 11 Ben Cairns, 10 Phil Godman, 9 Mike Blair, 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Dougie Hall, 3 Alasdair Dickinson, 4 Matt Mustchin, 5 Scott Murray, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Simon Taylor, 8 Dave Callam
Replacements: 16 Steven Lawrie, 17 Dave Hewett, 18 Chris Bentley, 19 Ross Rennie, 20 John Senio, 21 Duncan Hodge, 22 Lucio Lopez Fleming.

Border Reivers: 15 Calum MacRae ©, 14 Brendon Daniel, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Nick De Luca, 11 Garry Law, 10 Steve Jones, 9 Brendan McKerchar, 8 Kelly Brown, 7 Scott Gray, 6 John Dalziel, 5 Craig Hamilton, 4 Opeta Palepoi, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Gavin Kerr.
Replacements: 16 Steve Scott, 17 Ed Kalman, 18 Stuart Grimes, 19 Ryan Grant, 20 Calum Cusiter/Rob Chrystie, 21 Andy Miller, 22 Gregor Townsend.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

We're missing a few keys players in Hogg, Dewey and Webster, and while against the better sides we would notice that, I'm sure that the boys who are filling in will do OK.

Spoke to Matt Mustchin and Dave Callam yesterday and they seem to be quite positive for this one.

 

[An Tarbh]

Finished up 17-3, haven't seen the match but does look like a missed chance for the Gunners, you'd be expecting full points at home against the 3 weakest teams and as we saw last year missing out on bonus points was crucial.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

We've yet to get a bonus point for scoring tries this year...


It wasn't a great performance, but Godman and Strokosh were awsome. The Borders are very good in defence, and they made it hard for us. Cairny's try was great though, he smoked a couple players then their full back fell flat on his arse.

Godman did prove yet again why he is the best stand off in this country. He was full of tricks and he only made one mistake all game, and you could blame a prop for being slow on that one.

 

[An Tarbh]

I'm actually surprised at that Gunner, would have thought with your backline you'd have at least a couple of 5 pointers by now.

 

[edinburgh_gunner]

Too many mistakes in the centre. I think that we've been over reliant on Dewey crash balls, and we've not spread it wide to Paterson or Webster. Di Rollo is out of form just now, he wasn't **** but not as good as we all know he can be.